2011-06-06 - Losing the Wager
Evening at the hotel, and Elizraim's in eir room...not strictly happy. It had the distinct displeasure of recently informing Terra that ey considered emself to have lost their months-old bet, since nothing (major) seems to have gone horribly wrong technology-wise recently. Ey went pretty quickly from honorable to sulky, and retreated to eir room--where ey has remained for a long while now. Ey's dressed in eir royal clothing, as ey often seems to be when ey's feeling insecure, and is seated at eir desk, sipping from tea as ey reads a book. King Lear, one might note. A knock. And hey...the kid has taste. Terra, outside, carrying her old CD player...she decided an MP3 player would be too hard for Elizraim to work out how to get more music onto...and a wallet full of disks. The response is in the Mioemet language at first, before Elizraim realizes eir mistake, and calls out in English. "You may enter." Terra steps inside. "Good taste in books." That's quite possibly her King Lear ey's reading, for that matter, unless ey got the book from the public library. "I found myself wishing to know the story, at least...since we could not view the actual performance," Elizraim says, marking eir page and setting the book aside. Ey turns, looking at her, and then (with obvious displeasure) looking at the CD player. "This, then, is the price for my folly..." "We'll fix that. There will be other performances of King Lear." A pause. "Yeah, but I think you'll find it useful." Elizraim scowls, looking at the device with clear skepticism. "I gave my word that I would learn to use this...thing, Terra. I did not promise to like it." Ey stands, and walks over to her, peering at the device a little closer--hesitantly, like the machine might bite. Terra Black sets down the device and the wallet. She's already put a disk in. "Hold on." She unplugs the headphones and presses play. "The internal speaker's not great...it's much better through headphones. Classical music starts up. And Elizraim is suddenly across the room and almost pressed up against the wall, looking at the CD player with the sort of look one would give, say, a very angry lion that just happened to wander into their bedroom and fancy them edible. Ey calms down after a few moments, though ey's still keeping eir distance. The music she picked clearly helps. Anything that plays classical music can't be all bad. Terra Black turns it off. "It's just a recording. Not nearly as good as a live performance, of course." Which might be one reason Elizraim likes Terra. She understands that there is a difference. Elizraim sloooowly comes back across the room, peering down at the machine. "Yes...you have mentioned them before..." Ey shivers. "I find the concept disturbing." Ey looks up at her. "Are you certain that the musicians come to no harm? It seems such a thing must take some part of their soul." Ey points at the CD player. "Else how could it understand the emotion of the piece?" Terra Black hrms. "All it does is accurately record the notes. That's one reason why live performance is better...can't get a good rapport through a studio recording, or something." She's an empath. She does understand. Elizraim frowns, looking down at the player again, and inspects it carefully. "Very well...I can sense no spiritual power about this device, and I think it unlikely that you would lie to me." Ey hesitates a moment more, then nods. "You order it to start with this, yes?" Ey reaches out, and presses...the wrong button. Specifically, eject. The CD player opens, and Elizraim's back across the room, this time with wings out. "The foul thing tried to bite me!" "No...okay. This particular device works by reading the recording off the disks. You hit the button to open it, that's all. It's safe." And Terra has extra copies of these CDs. In case Elizraim scratches one. Elizraim frowns, and slowly advances to stand by her side again, though the wings remain out. "I shall warn you, if this...machine...is not tame, I shall strike it down." Ey prods the CD player a couple times with a finger, not hitting any of the buttons, to make sure it isn't going to lunge, and then finally settles down again. "Yes...the disks. I recall our discussion from the music store. You said they were quite fragile." Ey frowns, but nods. "I shall be cautious." Terra Black nods. "Always hold the disk by the edges, like this. If you leave fingerprints on them it can mess with it...make the recording blurred. And if you scratch them, they're ruined." Elizraim looks rather horrified at the concept. "I would never wish to destroy music...even in this form." Ey very, very carefully reaches out to the disk, gingerly reaching to hold it just as she is. "If it is destroyed...what of the music? Is there no way to restore it to the world?" "These disks can be copied. And all the ones in here, I have copies of, in case we drop one or something, so don't be too worried about it. But it's good to get into the habit of handling them properly." Elizraim blinks. "Copied?" Yeah, that's bringing em to a whole new world. "Then...the disks the merchant was selling...do you mean that the musician need not play for each one?" Terra Black shakes her head. "No. You can copy a digital recording as many times as you want. It's still not as good as live, but it does allow you to do things like...explore what you like easier." Elizraim goes wide-eyed. "Amazing. Then...this permits many to listen to the same performance." Ey shakes eir head. "We had nothing like this. To think of how many could have heard me..." Ey frowns, catching emself being positive about the dreaded technology, and readopts eir scowl. "Continue." Terra Black nods, "Right, it does...although without the audience effect. I mean, recordings can catch applause and the like. Okay. So the disc goes in like this. You need to make sure that the central knob there goes through the hole in the disc." Elizraim nods, watching carefully and mimicking her actions. Ey's still scowling, but ey appears a bit more willing now--it's clear ey's not just doing this because ey promised. Ey's just not happy with emself for it. "And you must have a care not to damage the disk on the...knob..." When ey pulls eir hand back, it's actually shaking just a little bit. Elizraim looks up at her. "Then, the machine must be ordered to close its maw, yes?" Terra Black nods. "Right. Just push it in gently...don't use the eject button again. It'll close on its own." She seems quite calm about this...if privately amused at Elizraim's sudden enthusiasm. Elizraim nods, carefully touching the lid a couple times to make sure it really isn't going to bite, and then slowly pushes the lid to close it. "And now it is readied?" Elizraim asks, looking closely at the lid to make sure it is shut. As Elizraim looks at the lid, ey'll probably notice that the disk has started spinning up. And CDs spin pretty quickly. "Give it a second." Clearly, not all the worry about the device is gone, as Elizraim again steps back--though this time, just over to Terra and just a bit behind her. Using someone else for cover might not be the most brave or noble, but Elizraim's dealing with a strange new world here! "It was spinning...this is correct?" Terra Black nods. "Right. It has to spin so it can retrieve the notes from the disc. Remind me to show you a vinyl record some time...you can sort of see the notes on those." Elizraim frowns. "I think I should like to wait a while before I ask to see more technology," ey says. Ey isn't utterly refusing, though, so that's progress. Ey looks at the CD Player. "However, I shall admit this machine seems...useful, and does something which cannot otherwise be done." Terra Black nods. "I would have got you an MP3 player, but you need a computer for that. For this...if you don't like the music, you get another disc. They're all labeled. Now...you'll see that there's a button with one arrow on it. Press it." Elizraim carefully inspects the buttons, not wanting to make another mistake. Even so, ey nearly hits the "next track" button before ey pauses, noticing the play button. Ey presses the button, and immediately takes up eir "cover" position near Terra again. To protect her...yes, that's it. "Okay. That's play. The button next to it goes to the next song or piece on the disk...on the right side. The one on the left goes back to the start of the current one. And the one with two lines stops it." Elizraim stares at the device, the amazement still lingering, and as she indicates each of the buttons, ey carefully presses each in turn, listening with interest as the different songs start, and then as the music stops. "I think...I am understanding." Ey frowns, crossing eir arms, and considers the device. "It seems the mortals have created something which truly can be controlled..." Ey looks over at Terra. "Was your parent involved in making this machine?" If it's technology and it works, surely it must be from a person as worthy of respect as William Black. Terra Black shakes her head. "CD players have been around a little while...plenty of people know how to make them." Actually, they're kind of obsolete. "My dad can do better than this." Elizraim nods, and looks back at the thing, then sighs. "There exists something better than this?" Ey sits down in the chair, shaking eir head a bit. "Yet this is like nothing I have known. How can there be something more?" "There's all kinds of musical technology. Including electronic instruments...I thought of getting one, but I thought this would be more useful...it'll allow you to study Earth music more easily." Terra settles back. "And computers can do all kinds of things. But that doesn't devalue a live performer with an acoustic instrument." Elizraim nods, clearly considering the possibilities. "Yes...it should be quite useful for such a purpose. I believe I can make use of it." Ey frowns. "Yet I do not want it in my room. It is somewhat...umm...creepy. I shall ask to borrow it when I wish to study. I cannot abide its presence when I wish to rest." Terra Black nods. "That's fine." The bet was only that Elizraim would learn to use it, anyway. "I'll leave it in the library...and I found a couple of pieces of sheet music you might like too." Elizraim brightens considerably at that. "In truth?" Ey smiles. "I shall inspect them at first opportunity. I thank you, Terra, for making this as easy as you could, and for your choice. I...admit I find this interesting." Terra says, "I didn't see any point in making you do anything that was worthless to you. And I know music is where your heart is and always will be." Category:Logs